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A review by the_fabric_of_words
Space Hostages by Sophia McDougall
5.0
I found this book over the summer a few years ago when I was looking for science fiction for middle grade readers. There's only two books in this series, and I entered on this, book 2, then bought the first, Mars Evacuees, because my library didn't have it (although it later subscribed to Hoopla, and it is available there). They're a bit older (2016-ish), so if your library doesn't have them, they'll need to be purchased.
Alice Dare and her friends, including a freezing, tentacled Morror named Thsaaa, are back on Earth and back in school. The Morrors are using Antarctica to live on and global warming isn't an issue. She wrote a book about her first adventure, but with all the peacefulness spreading around, Alice, daughter of a fighter-spacecraft pilot, is just itching for her next in-space adventure. She doesn’t have long to wait.
She's invited to the Morror planet to accept her accolades for bringing an end to the war between Earth and Morror, along with her friends, Carl, Noel and Josephine (although she hasn't heard from her in a while).
Except Alice's Dad is dead-set on her NOT going, not even leaving Earth. He gets sick right before the ship takes off, and Alice decides to go on her own, without him. Ooof. Quite a blow.
The kids -- all of them -- are reunited with the Goldfish teacher AI aboard the sentient Archangel Planetary Ship, Helen. Helen's in love with its Captain, Rasumus Trommler, although his tween daughter, Christa, is singularly unimpressed. Dr. Muldoon is doing experiments on the ship, but the kids aren't terrifically knowledgeable about that.
Tensions over Alice's book and how she portrays her friends rise just in time for Helen to be attacked, this time by another alien species, the Krakkiluk. Helen is trespassing in their territory, and they're insect-like and ruthless. To prove they're serious, they flush Carl out the space lock. It isn't long before Alice, Lena and Goldfish follow. Their only chance of survival with no oxygen tanks on their space suits is a controlled entry into the planet's atmosphere below. So they don't burn up. Can Goldfish do it? Can they?
Up on the Helen, things are not as they seem. Trommler may not have Earth's best interests at heart, starting with his plan to hand over Dr. Muldoon to the Krakkiluk. The Krakkiluk haven't been exactly honest, and on the planet, Alice and Lena and Carl start to put things together. But the air is not exactly breatheable -- it is, but it'll kill them in about a week. So they better get off planet, and fast.
I won't say how the rest of it unfolds, just know, when it was over I was bitterly disappointed there isn't another in the series. And I ran out and bought the first one, as my library STILL isn't doing ILLs (inter-library loans).
Enjoy!
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
Alice Dare and her friends, including a freezing, tentacled Morror named Thsaaa, are back on Earth and back in school. The Morrors are using Antarctica to live on and global warming isn't an issue. She wrote a book about her first adventure, but with all the peacefulness spreading around, Alice, daughter of a fighter-spacecraft pilot, is just itching for her next in-space adventure. She doesn’t have long to wait.
She's invited to the Morror planet to accept her accolades for bringing an end to the war between Earth and Morror, along with her friends, Carl, Noel and Josephine (although she hasn't heard from her in a while).
Except Alice's Dad is dead-set on her NOT going, not even leaving Earth. He gets sick right before the ship takes off, and Alice decides to go on her own, without him. Ooof. Quite a blow.
The kids -- all of them -- are reunited with the Goldfish teacher AI aboard the sentient Archangel Planetary Ship, Helen. Helen's in love with its Captain, Rasumus Trommler, although his tween daughter, Christa, is singularly unimpressed. Dr. Muldoon is doing experiments on the ship, but the kids aren't terrifically knowledgeable about that.
Tensions over Alice's book and how she portrays her friends rise just in time for Helen to be attacked, this time by another alien species, the Krakkiluk. Helen is trespassing in their territory, and they're insect-like and ruthless. To prove they're serious, they flush Carl out the space lock. It isn't long before Alice, Lena and Goldfish follow. Their only chance of survival with no oxygen tanks on their space suits is a controlled entry into the planet's atmosphere below. So they don't burn up. Can Goldfish do it? Can they?
Up on the Helen, things are not as they seem. Trommler may not have Earth's best interests at heart, starting with his plan to hand over Dr. Muldoon to the Krakkiluk. The Krakkiluk haven't been exactly honest, and on the planet, Alice and Lena and Carl start to put things together. But the air is not exactly breatheable -- it is, but it'll kill them in about a week. So they better get off planet, and fast.
I won't say how the rest of it unfolds, just know, when it was over I was bitterly disappointed there isn't another in the series. And I ran out and bought the first one, as my library STILL isn't doing ILLs (inter-library loans).
Enjoy!
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/